As Nigeria draws closer to the 2023 general elections, the continued incarceration of Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, may affect the polls.
Kanu’s continued incarceration may lead to issues that may affect the turnout of voters in the Southeast.
Recall that Kanu has been in detention since June 2021, when he was arrested in Kenya and subjected to extraordinary rendition.
Upon return to Nigeria, he was detained at the Department of State Services, DSS, facility in Abuja and arraigned for charges bordering on terrorism.
But, last week, an Appeal Court in Abuja discharged and acquitted the IPOB leader of the terrorism charges.
Despite the ruling, the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, had hinted that the IPOB leader would remain in detention.
Malami explained that Kanu was only discharged and not acquitted, adding that fresh charges would be brought against the IPOB.
Meanwhile, IPOB had previously threatened to ensure elections don’t hold in the Southeast if Kanu is not released and Biafra actualized.
The group later soft pedaled, stressing that it has nothing to do with the 2023 general election.
Expressing worry over his continued detention, the Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, lamented that youths in the Southeast may revolt against the conduct of elections in 2023 in the Southeast.
Speaking with Journalists Isiguzoro urged the Federal Government to grant Kanu pardon to appease the people of the Southeast.
He assured President Muhammadu Buhari that prominent leaders in the Southeast are ready to dialogue with the Federal Government and ensure that Kanu and IPOB members bring an end to the Biafra agitation.
According to Isiguzoro: “There is this fear that Nnamdi Kanu’s release may jeopardize the 2023 elections, and there is also the fear that if he is not released, it might affect the 2023 elections.
“I must state clearly that those who wear the shoes know where it pinches them. The people of the Southeast have been enveloped with insecurity challenges for over one year now, which is associated with Kanu’s incarceration.
“The people of the Southeast are begging the Federal Government to consider the cheap option of cutting down insecurity in the Southeast and they should desist from appealing the Appeal Court judgment.
“The Federal Government should consider the option of dialogue; the people of the Southeast are ready to dialogue with the Federal Government and pressurize Kanu to be part of that dialogue. Igbo leaders like Emeka Anyioku, Mbazulike Amaechi and other first-class Igbo people are ready to tell Kanu that he is wrong, but in order to ensure that the collapsing economy in the Southeast, which is associated with ghost Mondays ends, there should be a dialogue. This is what the government should consider; rather than spending billions in trying to fight insecurity, they should use dialogue to settle this issue in the Southeast.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government brought its case against the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, to the Supreme Court.
It has asked the Supreme Court to halt the execution of the 13 October Court of Appeal ruling that freed the separatist group’s leader.
The request is one of the reliefs in a motion for a stay of execution filed yesterday by the office of the Attorney-General of the Federation before the Supreme Court (AGF).
The motion contained a seven-ground notice of appeal, in which the Federal Government not only faulted the lower court’s decision but also pleaded for it to be overturned.
The appellant argued, among other things, that the Court of Appeal erred when it criticized the manner in which Kanu was returned to face trial after jumping bail and fleeing the country.
It also argued that the Court of Appeal erred when it dismissed the pending charge against Kanu on the grounds that the trial court lacked the jurisdiction to continue the trial due to the manner in which Kanu was returned to the country after allegedly jumping bail.
A date is pending for the hearing of the motion for a stay of execution.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja ruled on Thursday that Kanu’s return to Nigeria from Kenya and subsequent arraignment before a Federal High Court in Abuja for the continuation of his trial on pending terrorism charges were unlawful.
The three-member court panel also dismissed the Federal Government’s terrorism charge against him, which was pending before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The Appeal Court was of the opinion that the Nigerian government violated all known local and international laws in Kanu’s forcible return to Nigeria, rendering the terrorism charge against him ineffective and unlawful.
Kanu had filed an appeal with the designation CA/ABJ/CR/625/2022 against a prior ruling by Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
